Bed Cover With Separable Sections

ABSTRACT

A bed cover such a comforter is formed in two sections detachably connected together along a seam, with the seam enclosed within a cover sleeve surrounding the portion of the bed cover along which the seam extends, having an exposed outer section thereof provided with a decorative pattern thereon. The outer section is sewn to an upper section of the bed cover along an upper edge and an under section connected at either end to the outer cover sleeve section, extending beneath the comforter, and sewn to the underside of the upper section cover along an upper edge thereof.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No.61/810,843 filed on Apr. 11, 2013.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention concerns bedding and in particular large size bed coverssuch as comforters, that are used with queen, king and California kingsized mattresses.

Such comforters are difficult or impossible to clean in a home laundrydue to their large size.

It has heretofore been proposed to configure such bed covers withseparable lengthwise sections such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,533,427;6,643,871; 6,311,347; 2,730,728; 1,267,042 and U.S. publishedapplication no. 2007/0226905.

However, the arrangements heretofore proposed have not beenaesthetically compatible with conventional bedding and have ofteninvolved fastener features which can be contacted by the user's feet,and the seam may easily become exposed to view.

Also, a sleeper's feet may have a tendency to snag the connectionbetween the sections during shifting movements of the feet of a personcovered with the bedding.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a bed cover such asa comforter having separable sections which are conveniently attachedand detached to each other, but which presents an attractive appearanceeven after many washings and which insures that the seam remains coveredwith fabric to prevent contact with seam fasteners, and also cannot besnagged by the feet of a sleeper.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The above recited object and other objects which will be understood bythose skilled in the art upon a reading of the following specificationand claims are achieved by dividing the comforter into two sections,preferably in a crosswise direction, which are joinable along one sideby a fastening, preferably a zipper, which conveniently allows joinderor separation of the two sections.

A fabric cover sleeve is provided which passes completely around thecomforter and having outer and under sections collectively covering bothsides of the seam. At least the outer section of the cover sleeve isprovided with an attractive pattern compatible with the appearance ofthe comforter.

One side of the outer section of the cover sleeve, preferably the upperside, is permanently attached to the outer face of the comforter as bybeing sewn thereto several inches above the zipper connection, with thelower side pulled down over the seam defined by the zipper fastening.The under section of the cover sleeve tends to maintain the outersection of the cover sleeve in the proper position lying over the seam.

The under section of the sleeve can be made from a plain fabric as itextends beneath the comforter and out of sight as it extends along thebottom of the zipper seam, or it can be patterned or colored to allowreversibility of the cover sleeve to change the appearance of thecomforter or other bed cover.

The cover sleeve is disposed well above a sleeper's feet so they willnot normally come into contact with the zipper or other fastening or thecover sleeve itself.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a bedding sheet comprising a comforteraccording to one embodiment of the present invention disposed on a bed.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the comforter shown in FIG. 1 with a portionsof a cover sleeve broken away to show the details of the seam fastener.

FIG. 3 is a sectional diagram of the comforter with both of the coversleeve section depicted.

FIG. 4 is a pictorial view of the comforter shown in FIG. 2 with aportion of the lower side of the outer cover sleeve section pulled up toexpose the zipper fastener seam.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, certain specific terminology willbe employed for the sake of clarity and a particular embodimentdescribed in accordance with the requirements of 35 USC 112, but it isto be understood that the same is not intended to be limiting and shouldnot be so construed inasmuch as the invention is capable of taking manyforms and variations within the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings and particularly FIG. 1, a multilayercomforter 10 according to one embodiment of the invention is shown,although other bed cover types could also incorporate the invention. Theinvention is advantageously applicable to the larger sizes, i.e. queen,king and California king mattress sizes. A typical king size cover is104 inches wide and 90 inches long.

The comforter 10 is shown being wider than the lengthwise dimensions asper the conventional practice with the sides descending over either sideof a bed mattress as shown.

A side-to-side extending zipper fastener 12 forms a seam connecting ahead or upper section 14 to a foot or lower section 16 of the comforter10. The comforter 10 is thus dividable into two sections 14 and 16 by acrosswise seam defined by the zipper fastener (or other type fastenersuch as buttons, snaps, Velcro, etc).

A cover sleeve 18 completely surrounds the comforter 10 with an outersection 20 sewn along one upper strip portion 22 to the exposed outerside of the upper comforter section 14 along a line a few inches abovethe zipper fastener 12. The lower section 24 of the comforter sleeve 18is sewn to the underside of the upper section 14 along the upper edge.

The cover sleeve 18 is preferably of a substantial width on the order ofseveral inches to eighteen inches or more to be securely retained in aposition lying over and under the seam 12.

The outer section 20 of the cover sleeve 18 is of a decorative material,preferably patterned in some way, such as by a series of horizontalstitches 26 at the top and bottom.

The under section can be colored or patterned differently so that thecover sleeve 18 can be reversible to show another color or decorativepattern. The comforter sections 14, 16 can also have alternate colors orpattern to provide a number of combinations in the appearance of thecomforter 10.

The under section 28 of the cover sleeve 18 is sewn end to end witheither end of the outer section 20 along a seam 32 and extends acrossthe width of the comforter sections 14, 16, located beneath the same tosurround the comforter 10 with the cover sleeve 18. The cover sleeve 18thus covers the seam defined by zipper fastener 12 both above and belowby the respective cover sleeve sections 20, 28 respectively.

The under section 28 is also sewn to the inside of the upper section 14of the comforter 10 along the upper edge, as indicated in FIG. 3.

The under section 28 when pulled flat beneath the zipper fastener 12holds the outer section 20 in a position pulled flat over the zipperfastener 12 because of the connection therebetween at the respectiveopposite ends thereof. Thus, the outer section 20 is stabilized to bemaintained lying flat over zipper fastener 12.

The cover sleeve sewn edge 22 being at the top tends to avoid anysnagging of a sleeper's hands or arms.

The location of the cover sleeve 18 sewn to the upper section 14 of thecomforter 10, and its crosswise orientation similarly avoids snagging asleeper's feet.

The cover sleeve outer section 20 is suitably patterned as by the set ofembroidered parallel lines 21 as shown to enhance the attractiveness ofthe comforter 10 while both cover sleeve sections 20, 28 are held in aposition to cover and pad the zipper fastener 12 to prevent any directcontact therewith by the sleeper.

The cover sleeve outer section 20 lower side 30 can be pulled up asshown in FIG. 4 to expose the zipper fastener 12 and allow it to beunzipped to separate the comforter sections 14, 16 for separate washing.

The comforter 10 is preferably sized as a king size cover, i.e. 104inches wide and 90 inches long, but can be queen or California kingsized as well.

1. A bed cover comprised of a generally rectangular sheet of fabricmaterial; said sheet of fabric material comprised of two separatesections detachably joined together along a seam; a cover sleeve havingan outer section and an under section connected together at oppositeends thereof to surround said sheet and enclose said seam and extendingover said respective sheet sections for a substantial distancesubstantially beyond said seam in either direction, said cover sleeveattached to an underlying sheet section along one side of said coversleeve outer section over an outer side of said sheet, and having anopposite side normally disposed below said seam able to be pulled up toexpose said seam and enable detachment of said sheet sections from eachother.
 2. The bed cover according to claim 1 wherein said generallyrectangular sheet of fabric material comprises a multilayer comforter.3. The bed cover according to claim 1 wherein said outer section of saidcovering sleeve has a decorative pattern thereon.
 4. The bed coveraccording to claim 1 wherein said sheet of fabric material is fit to aking size mattress and has two sides and wherein said seam extends crossways from one side to the other of said sheet.
 5. The bed coveraccording to claim 1 wherein said detachable seam is formed by a zipperfastening extending along said seam.
 6. The bed cover according to claim1 wherein said cover sleeve is at least twelve inches in width.
 7. Thebed cover according to claim 1 wherein said cover sleeve under sectionhas parallel edges, both of said edges being unattached from said sheetsubsections.
 8. The bed cover according to claim 1 wherein said bedcover is approximately 104 inches wide and 90 inches long.
 9. The bedcover according to claim 3 wherein said two sections of said sheet arepatterned or colored differently on opposite sides to be reversible. 10.The bed cover according to claim 9 wherein said outer and under sectionsare patterned or colored differently from each other to be reversible.